Butcher of Gadobhra Chapter 456 (Patreon)

Whew, a long one. We finally return to our poor, neglected Mistress of the Sedgewick Mage Guild and her struggle to improve it. She first showed up in Chapter 174.
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Belerianne, Beryl to her friends, of which she had few at the moment, was torn between duty and desire. Duty insisted that she sit in the Sedgewick Mage Guild and once again fill out the paperwork to upgrade to Level 1. The upgrade would give her access to more spellbooks and equipment that she could requisition from the main Guild Hall. The cost was treated as a loan and repaid with fees paid by local guild members, of which she had too few. The strange feud between the Mage's Guild and the Baron of Gadobhra was a red flag for any Mage thinking of relocating to the growing town. As a Level 0 Guild Hall, she could only send promising applicants to the colleges and halls in other cities. The local adventurers needed spells she couldn't supply and paid their dues in Wolfburg or other towns.

So it was with an extreme conviction that she was wasting her time that led her to dump the paperwork into a stack on her desk and decide to take the day off. There was a Fairy Market close by, and that was something she didn't want to miss. Beryl loved magic and for too long she'd forced herself to adhere to the attitude of her teachers at the Collegium who discouraged research into hedge magic and the spells of other races. Jasper was a prime example of that, his disdain for most of the villagers who could wield magic was clear to see. He was only level two, even after all these years with not a bit of wit or wisdom to his name. He could barely handle cantrips and yet sneered at crafters using complex aspects in their work.

But over the years she'd seen that while the academics at the Halls and Colleges disdained anything but human magic, the interesting, and often high-level Mages she encountered weren't quite so stuffy. Boldo Stonecutter had spent time with the gnomish miners of Hardstone Vale and returned with an improved version of the Sunder Stone spell, and hinted there might be even more powerful versions to learn. Master Cauldrius had augmented his Fire Magic with spells and abilities learned from Kobolds, Fire Trolls, and Salamanders. He was considered odd, but no one questioned his power. And Beryl's grandmother had been a Hedge Witch, a close-kept family secret. She'd taught her granddaughter cantrips early that dealt with water and air and encouraged her to seek out a proper teacher. Beryl still remembered her tales of fairies and gremlins and their strange magic.

Wrapping her Seafoam Shawl around her, she took up her carved driftwood staff and decided that a day at the market was just what she needed. As she walked through the town, she saw that she wasn't the only one. Most of the local businesses were closed for the day. The thirsty patrons of the tavern and inn were grumbling, but that changed quickly when they saw the huge beer garden at the fair, held under several colorful tents. The local beers and wines were for sale, but also brews and vintages imported from the Fae Realms. Several bards were providing music, one human with his lute, a troll playing a hand drum and a beautiful fae maiden was belting out the rousing chorus to The Ballad of Eskimo Nell, always a favorite. Beryl found that either the version she'd heard was tamed down, or that the fae version was spiced up, and there were quite a few words she didn't know, but were explained by the lewd context. She paid a few coppers for a mug of light, sweet wine that glowed with Nature magic, finding it very suited to her mood.

Before entering the fair itself, she was stopped by a short person with brown twigs for a beard, seated on the shoulders of a similar fae. He tipped his hat to her, "Begging your pardon, fair lady of Earth and Ocean, but I must do my duty to both impart and ask for knowledge before you enter."

"Certainly, what can I do to aid you?"

"Just the usual questions and warnings ma'am. Payment of anything other than gold, silver, or copper should be avoided. While it might appear that you don't need a shadow or 3rd born son, mortals often regret such trades later. Can't stop you, if you insist, but you've been warned. And I'll mention that the Master of the Market is inclined to frown on such and would appreciate any mortals who can let him know which scallywag is breaking his rules."

"I accept the warning, and thank you."

"Excellent. Hate to have trouble at the first big fair. And I have to say that some things are prohibited at the fair: Items of The Coldest Iron, Swords of Fae-Slaying, Hammers of Troll-Thumping, or Clubs of Witch-Womping. No trading of sentients under their majority, or forcing such into marriages no matter how much gold is offered. Cursed items must be declared as such, or at least have a name that forewarns the buyer."

"I have none such on me, and agree with all restrictions."

"Excellent news, ma'am. You are free to enter the fair and may you have a wonderful time." Beryl stepped through the gate and felt the magic in the air change. It tasted like her grandmother's cookies. Fae magic swirled in the air of the Market and if she looked closely, her Weather Sight could see the little fairies moving it about, and hovering invisibly around each tent or stall.

Some of the offered services were designed to catch untrained mortal eyes: jewelry of all sorts shaped like dragons or sprites, swords and staves with simple runes and cheap gems in the pommels, and potion merchants selling cures for 'almost anything that almost always work. She noticed a dozen wind sprites hovering over that stand, listening for exaggerations of the merchant's wares. By contrast, there were none hovering at a small stand that sold silver pendants with softly glowing amber stones.

She stopped to look at the amber jewelry and the seemingly human woman behind the table smiled. "Does something catch your fancy? Amber out of Quaythe set into silver mined between light and shadow. Amber, to neutralize poisons and Silver for protection from the dark, what more could a beautiful woman ask for?"

"So much more, but I'd like to like to ask your price for this one." She held up a necklace that caught her fancy and they haggled back and forth in a friendly manner, settling on the price of one gold and three silver pieces. As the necklace settled around her neck she felt the enchantments of protection settle around her.

"You have a touch of old blood in you, I can feel it. A few generations back, but still potent. The necklace knows and will work harder to protect you. Now, what about your other desires? If one of those is a man, I have a handsome cousin I can introduce you to. He will be coming tonight when the sun sets. He has delicate skin and the mortal sun gives him freckles that take years to fade."

"I may stop back, just to see this handsome man. But what I would love to find is a seller of spellbooks or scrolls. Things to teach mortal students beginning to study the art of magic."

The woman considered this, "So, a teacher then? See where the tall black tent is? Behind that is Aubrey Inkstained, a scribe who creates scrolls with small spells upon them, good for those with little magic. But he may have what you are looking for in his boxes of old books and moldy paper. He'll know I sent you when he sees my pendant. I wish you luck in your search."

Aubrey the bookdealer was easy to find, but she took her time getting there. A tall fae with greenish skin was carving on a log, while two players haggled with him over the price of two gnarled staves made of beautiful darkwood. The players were limited by the coin in their pouches and the merchant was in no hurry to sell for the low price of six hundred gold. Negotiations went from stalling to over as Belerianne walked close and he saw her staff.

"A second of your time, lass. That chunk of wood in your hand, it has seen the western sea, has it not?" She handed her staff over to him. It was an old piece of driftwood, found on the beach long ago, and while it made a good walking stick, it added only a small benefit to her spellcasting.

"I assume so, as that was the sea near the beach I rescued it from." He was running his hands up and down the wood, and smelling it. "Why does it interest you so?"

"I have carved hundreds of pieces of wood over my long years, but I have never carved a piece of Red Cedar that has the smell of salt of the Western. I would make a trade with you. Not for the staff, but the chance to carve it."

"Go on..."

He nodded, happy to get down to bargaining. The wood called to him, and he decided he was done haggling with the other humans. There was carving to do. "Give me leave, and I will add my little flourishes to your plain staff and add the Name of the First Sea, hidden in my carvings. I will do this for three silver coins."

"Three silver?"

"Very well, two silver, but not a coin fewer unless you ask for it."

"Two will be fine." They shook, and the woodcarver forgot all else as he took a delicate nice and began making the small scratches that promised something interesting. One of the players left, while the other sat silently and watched. Beryl made her way down the row, buying sweet pastries and looking at the wares until she came to Aubrey Inkstained and his stand. Scrolls were piled high on the tables with box after box of books making a wall behind him. Aubrey was a goblin with small hands, dyed blue-black halfway to his elbows from the overflowing inkwell on his desk.

She waited until he was done with his current scroll before speaking. "Pardon me, but I am looking for scrolls or books of spells. Things suitable for teaching student mages in their first tiers."

Aubrey looked at her and put his quill behind an ink-stained ear. "Hmm, maybe so. But maybe not. Spells I have, a book somewhere, and a few scrolls that might be of use to you, but I'm not sure."

"Not sure of what?"

He looked cautiously at his boxes, "If they are suitable. I could get in trouble letting a mortal gain access to Fae Magic. It doesn't work right for most mortal folk. I mostly came to trade with other fae that will be here. I can't chance being banned from the Market, not with this being the first one."

Beryl was itching to dig into the stacks of books. "What if I ask permission of the Master? If I can get his permission, can I persuade you?"

Aubrey started to consider her request but knew he would have to say no. He had boxes of books he had bought and never looked through. Some might contain items that would be best to not let Uncle Grom know he had with him. He started to speak, and then shut his mouth and bowed low as SHE appeared at his stand. A host of wind sprites flew around his stall, some from the market, and some freshly freed from the grasp of Winter. All happy to get reacquainted. Beryl had seen the woman around Sedgewick, one of the High Fae that visited for the hunting in Gadobrha.

"Perhaps I can be of help? I'm sure busy Uncle Grom won't mind. I am familiar with some human magics as well as Fae. I'm sure the three of us together can sort through these treasures and find things Miss Belerianne would find useful for her Guild Hall. With your approval, of course, Master Scribe."

Aubrey bowed again. A chance to make an approved sale with the Countess's blessing. "I'm sure we can, Milady. Let me clear these things away and we'll begin. I think I know which boxes are most likely to have what we need. But...many will be written in a language mortals cannot read."

The woman with golden hair and large green eyes turned to Belerianne, "I will make you an offer. My aid in finding and translating what we can find here in the market, in return for a glass of wine, and the promise of a place to properly care for the items I help you acquire."

Beryl turned the generous offer over in her mind, wondering if she was missing anything. This was a High Fae Lady, after all, and they did things for their own reasons, and not necessarily for the benefit of the poor human dealing with them. "I accept."

By nightfall, she had three large spellbooks and a dozen scrolls that might give her just barely enough useful material to qualify her guild for an upgrade. Which it desperately needed. Sitting with another spellcaster in the cramped little library with its bare shelves made her self-conscious of her failings. The other woman didn't seem to care. "Everyone starts somewhere." The Sorceress sat with her, translating and copying the most basic spells until Beryl began to yawn.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

The Fae woman smiled. "No need to be. My kind can work quickly for hours on end and barely sleep. Go to your bed and I will finish up."
The next morning, Beryl found one book with two dozen translated elemental spells of the first tier. Just enough to qualify for the upgrade, if she could finally get the approval. She diligently worked for the day on the paperwork, and delivered it to the Mayor for her signature and then sent it by Courier to the Mage's Guild Hall in Wolfsburg.

With that done, she attended the fair for dancing and wine, meeting a handsome man with fair skin unblemished by freckles and bright red hair. She was undecided a day later whether she was more happy with the mysterious man who vowed to return next quarter, or with her lovely staff. It was gloriously carved with waves and sea monsters, holding a deeper magic underneath that she would have to discover on her own. The last night of the fair ended at dawn, and her nighttime lover gave her a parting kiss before hiding beneath the cowl of his hood and escaping back to the Fae lands to avoid freckles and sunburn.

As she walked leisurely back to Sedgewick in the bright morning sun, she saw the changes. Buildings were not where they had been and new streets wove between them. Where her little Guild Hall had been was a tall tower with five stories and balconies on each floor. Rushing inside, she found everything had changed. On the first floor, there were new tables and chairs made of dark wood, worn from use. A portrait of Varsil the Good took up one wall and a bust of an unknown sorcerer with a curling beard made of flames sat on a pedestal in the corner.

Up the spiral stairs, she found that the second and third floors were libraries. Her new book was there, as well as a hundred tomes on the history of the Mage Guild, the basics of magic, runic theory beginners, and primers on each of the aspects of magic. The fourth floor was similar, but filled with ancient texts on Fire Magics on one wall, and Fae Magic on the other. The furnishings of this floor were rich, like someone out of one of the richest Guild Halls. On the fifth floor, she found the Sorceress, sitting in a chair on the balcony, drinking wine.

"Oh, there you are. Come drink with me."

Beryl sat down, catching her breath and looking out over the town. "This isn't part of our bargain. What am I going to owe you for this?"

"Oh, but it is! You promised a place to properly care for the items I gave you. But it occurred to me that nothing was said to preclude me from enlarging your gift. In my travels I've visited a few libraries and borrowed things their owners will never miss or that they owed me in compensation. I'm giving them to your Guild Hall, and since it was too small to hold them, I made it bigger. It was easy to do with all the other changes going on last night. You aren't the only one to have made bargains with the Fae."

"And that's all there is to this? A place to store your books?"

"Well, I do have a small request. This top floor has two sleeping rooms on either side of the delightful sitting room. I may need a place to stay now and then so I'll take the room on to the West and you take the room on the East. I'll be by now and then to talk spells and magic, and see what I can help with. But I insist on one thing. Your assistant, Jasper? He needs to go. He is rude and offered me insults in the past. I think he should journey elsewhere and is not needed here."

Beryl didn't hesitate, "A fair deal, all the way around."